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Saturday, September 14, 2013

Latest Research on Bee Attrition

Honeybee disorders and high colony losses are a serious global
phenomena and this threatens our food system. The latest evidence suggests that
there is an interrelationship between pesticides, fungicides and parasites.

Bees are well known for providing honey and wax, but as
pollinators, they are also indispensable to agriculture. Bees are an
essential part of food production and according to some estimates, they are
responsible for one of every three bites of food we eat. The
economic value of pollination services from honeybees alone are estimated at
$14 billion in the U.S. and hundreds of millions in Canada.

Bees are nature’s best pollinators because unlike some other
species, they seek out both nectar and pollen. Bees fertilize crops ranging
from almonds to zucchini. They are especially important to crops like
watermelons, pumpkins, cucumbers, and cranberries and farmers who grow apples
and blueberries are almost entirely dependent on bees for pollination.

Die-offs & colony weakness

Early explanations for disintegrating bee numbers were
attributed to what is known as “colony collapse disorder.” In this theory,
colonies that seemed pretty healthy suddenly collapsed as bees abandoned their
hives. Now it appears that bee colonies are just getting smaller and weaker. In
bee colonies, size matters as more bees make it easier to generate heat and
rear their brood, heat is also required for bees to fly.

A new survey of
America’s beekeepers indicates that almost a third of U.S. honeybee colonies
did not make it through last winter. This is a repeat of massive bee die-offs
that have been occurring almost every year since the U.S. Department of
Agriculture began this annual survey in 2007.

Successive years of massive bee die-offs are a serious concern.
Commercial beekeepers can afford to lose only about 15 percent of their
colonies each year. With numbers more than twice the acceptable limit, the
future of the commercial bee industry is in doubt and as a consequence, crop
production. In places like West Bath, Maine, the number of bees is already so
low that there may not be enough to pollinate major crops.

There have been a number of theories put forth to explain why
bees are being decimated. Some of the more prominent theories include
pesticides, fungicides, parasites and poor nutrition.

As reported in the study, Recent research is uncovering
diverse sub-lethal effects of pesticides on bees. Even at low
levels, pesticides and fungicides have been linked to foraging and navigational
disruptions, immune suppression and learning/memory disorders in bees.

Researchers found 35 different pesticides in pollen including
oxadiazines, neonicotinoids, carbamates, cyclodienes, formamidines,
organophosphates, and pyrethroids. Pollen samples contained an average of nine
different agricultural pesticides and fungicides, and as many as 21 in one
case. Researchers most frequently found fungicides in pollen samples,
particularly chlorothanlonil, which is a broad spectrum fungicide ubiquitously
used on apples and other crops.

One particular class of pesticides called neonicotinoids is
garnering a lot of attention. Water-soluble pesticides such as neonicotinoids are
a real danger because they are systemic. This class of pesticide is readily
absorbed by plant roots and transported throughout the plant’s vascular system
to other portions of the plant, including their pollen and nectar. Residues
remain in the plant for its lifetime, continually endangering any pollinators
that forage or pollinate these contaminated plants.

An international team of scientists led by Holland’s Utrecht
University concluded that, ”Large scale prophylaxic use in agriculture, their
high persistence in soil and water, and their uptake by plants and
translocation to flowers, neonicotinoids put pollinator services at risk.”

Neonicotinoids are also used in planting corn and some other
crops. Neonicotinoids are used to coat corn seeds and new seeders disperse the
pesticide into the air. There is considerable anecdotal evidence pointing
to the correlation between the planting of corn and bee death. Here are three
examples from Ontario, Canada.

Beekeeper Dave Schuit lost 600 hives this year and a total of 37 million bees.
As explained by Schuit, “once the corn started to get planted our bees died by
the millions.”

Schuit is hardly the only one suffering bee loses directly after
corn is planted. At the farm of Gary Kenny, eight of the 10 hives died this
spring just after corn was planted in neighboring fields. Similar occurrences
were also observed near Gulph Ontario.

A Pest Management Regulatory Agency investigation confirmed that
corn seeds treated with clothianidin or thiamethoxam, “contributed to the
majority of the bee mortalities.” Researchers found pesticides in every
single pollen sample, even those that were collected from nearby wildflowers
that were not sprayed. “The air seeders are the problem,” said Ontario
Federation of Agriculture director Paul Wettlaufer.

According to research from American Purdue University, “Bees
exhibited neurotoxic symptoms, analysis of dead bees revealed traces of thiamethoxam/clothianidin
in each case.” They concluded that, “Seed treatments of field crops (primarily
corn) are the only major source of these compounds.”

The adverse impact of neonicotinoids on bees has been observed
around the world. An extensive overview of the major studies showing the
effects of neonicotinoids on pollinator health can be found on Beyond
Pesticides’ What the Science Shows.

Susceptibility to
parasites

Some research suggests that there is a relationship between
pesticides, fungacides and parasites. One of the parasites singled out is
Varroa Mite, but more recent research suggests that pesticides may make the
bees more vulnerable to a parasite called Nosema Ceranae. The Maryland report
links eight pesticides as increasing the risk of Nosema gut parasite infestations.

Lead researcher Jeff Pettis, PhD at the Bee Research Laboratory
in Beltsville, MD explained that honeybees that were fed pollen containing the
fungicide chlorothalonil and collected at the hive entrance were almost three
times more likely to become infected when exposed to the parasite Nosema, compared with control bees, which were not fed
contaminated pollen.

The newest USDA research adds to the growing body of evidence
that shows pesticide exposure weakens honeybees’ immune system making them more
susceptible to parasites and pathogens. It appears that the toxins make the
bees more vulnerable to parasites, which is now believed to be the cause of colony
collapse disorder.

While pesticides and fungicides are most often studied in
isolation, the problem may be most likely to occur when used in combination.
According to the Maryland study’s lead author, Dennis vanEngelsdorp, quoted in the online news
outlet Quartz, “It’s a lot more complicated than just one product,
which means of course the solution does not lie in just banning one class of
product.”

Poor nutrition

Bees are also under threat from poor nutrition due to drought
and habitat loss. These factors decrease the number of flowering plants that
bees depend on for nectar and pollen. This causes malnutrition which also makes
bees more susceptible to disease.

Friends of the Earth, Pesticide Action Network, The Xerces
Society, and other nonprofits are sending letters and
signing petitions to major garden retailers asking them to stop selling plants
that have been pre-treated with pesticides.

Many people and businesses are mobilizing to try to raise
awareness about the serious threats faced by bees. One such initiative comes
from Ted Dennard who is a lifelong beekeeper and owner of a Savannah Bee
Company. He has started an awareness campaign called The Bee Cause Project, this
non-profit teaches children the ABCs of honeybees, beekeeping, and the
importance of both. Dennard is also behind the “God Save the Queen (bee)”
campaign in his retail outlets.

In June, a Whole Food Market store in Rhode Island pulled more
than half of the produce department’s products off of shelves to show what the
food supply would look like without bees. This campaign sought to graphically
illustrate how major declines in honeybee populations threaten the availability
of many fresh ingredients.

Others are taking legal action. On March 21, 2013, Beyond
Pesticides joined beekeepers, environmental and consumer groups in filing a lawsuit in Federal District Court against
the EPA for its failure to protect pollinators from dangerous pesticides.

New EPA guidelines will prohibit the use of some neonicotinoid
pesticides when bees are present, and include information on routes of exposure
and spray drift precautions.

Although Europe is planning to ban some uses of pesticides
harmful to bees, agrochemical company Syngenta has indicated that it may
initiate a legal challenge to stop the EU’s plan to limit the use of
pesticides.

What else can be done

One of the most obvious things individuals can do is stop using
pesticides and fungicides. People can also grow more flowering plants. The best
way to ensure that they are bee friendly is to buy organic plants. We can also end the use
of air seeders where pesticides are present. People can also work to spread the
word in their local communities and call for a ban on the pesticides and
fungicides that are known to be detrimental to bees.

Federal legislation may be the most effective way to address the
problem. In the middle of July, bee protection legislation was introduced by
Reps. John Conyers (D-MI) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). The Save America’s Pollinators
Act, (H.R. 2692) calls upon the EPA to suspend the use of neonicotinoids
and to conduct a full review of scientific research before allowing the entry
of other neonicotinoids into the market.

——————-Richard Matthews is a consultant, eco-entrepreneur, green investor
and author of numerous articles on sustainable positioning, eco-economics and
enviro-politics. He is the owner of The Green Market Oracle,
a leading sustainable business site and one of the Web’s most comprehensive
resources on the business of the environment. Find The Green Market on Facebook and follow The Green Market’s twitter
feed.

Thought for the day

You’d be forgiven if you hadn’t noticed. His verbal bombshells are louder than ever, but Donald J Trump is no longer president of the United States. By having no constructive response to any of the monumental crises now convulsing America, Trump has abdicated his office. He is not governing. He’s golfing, watching cable TV and tweeting…

In reality, Donald Trump doesn’t run the government of the United States. He doesn’t manage anything. He doesn’t organize anyone. He doesn’t administer or oversee or supervise. He doesn’t read memos. He hates meetings. He has no patience for briefings. His White House is in perpetual chaos.

Robert Reich

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